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Thursday, September 8, 2011

224: tutorial - ombre denim

All summer we've been hearing about "ombre"! From hair to clothing, the gradient dye-jobs have been everywhere & admittedly, I've been wanting to work on my own ombre project for a couple of years now but I've been putting it off.

I've got an all-white denim motojacket that I love... but I just don't wear it that often. I figured it would be the perfect victim for this project! You can also do the same using some light-wash jeans or cut-offs!

my white motojacket

for this project you'll need RIT tint and dye.
I used Petal Pink!

The full instructions for use are inside the packaging. Other than all the precautions and figuring out what you can/can't dye, it's pretty straightforward. Powder dye + HOT water = dye!

The first thing you need to do is SOAK your item in water. This is an important step because the water helps in creating a gradual gradation of the dye (instead of a solid line where the dye ends, get it?)

wring out the jacket.
(obviously, this project is best done near a sink, haha)

Grab your measuring cup & hot water, some rubber gloves & your dye.

Prep the dye in your bucket according to the instructions.
& make sure that you STIR WELL. I didn't stir well (and was unable to see tiny flecks of unmixed dye because of the red bucket lol) and I ended up with a lot of reddish specks.

Then start dipping your jacket or shorts into the dye.

The instructions say to try to constantly agitate your fabrics in the dye for an even dye job. Just keep the bottom half dipped in & shimmy it around, avoiding dipping the ENTIRE thing in.

Pull it out, checking to see that you've dyed enough... if not, continue dipping a bit higher.

Then without wringing it out, hang it up to drip dry!
Over the laundry room sink is an appropriate place :)

& there you go! ombre denim!
in short... dip something in water, then dip it in fabric dye. haha

pink & white ombre is what I chose to do but you can also dip dye light denim with darker colours like blues and purples :)

This sooo freakin awesome!!! I love it! I am sooo happy that my mother introduce me to your blog because your blog is amazing!!! I love yall style and of course yall's creativity!!! love love love... Now on the looking out for more! xoxo asiahlynn